Black Country speeding cheats 'use same fake address 170 times'

False names and dates of birth have been provided for a string of non-existent individuals supposedly living at the same rented accommodation in Pargeter Street, Walsall, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.

Usually a 'friend' of the accused had offered to make the speeding ticket 'go away' as a favour or in exchange for payment, the court was told.

Now police investigating the racket have recently arrested a suspect allegedly involved in the fake form filling, it was said during the sentencing of Jonathan Campbell.

The 25-year-old, from Wolverhampton, played an important role in the apparent breakthrough which prompted the judge to take the exceptional course of not jailing the defendant who admitted attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Campbell's Vauxhall Astra was caught by a speed camera doing 58 mph in a 40 limit near the junction of Pacific Avenue and the Black Country New Road on April 24 last year.

The notification of prosecution was returned on May 15 with the familiar Walsall address and a bogus name for the driver that had also been used by others in similar circumstances.

Assisted

Six months later Campbell admitted the speeding offence when he appeared before Birmingham magistrates and was fined £80, with £80 costs.

Handwriting samples proved he had allowed somebody else to fill in the form, said Mr Mark Stevens, prosecuting, who added that the address had been used 170 times in similar attempts to dodge a speeding fine.

Mr Jasvir Mann, defending Campbell, explained: "A friend told him he would deal with it. The defendant knew he would do something to make the speeding ticket disappear but has since assisted the authorities considerably.

"He has tried to put right as much as he can within his power. Police arrested a man in connection with the crime a few days ago."

Campbell, of Waterloo Road, Wolverhampton, was given a four-month jail term suspended for 12 months, while a still valid 15-month suspended sentence previously imposed for an unrelated offence was not put in force.

It remained suspended alongside the most recent sentence but the prison terms will be served consecutively if the defendant breaks the rules of the suspensions.

Judge Simon Ward explained: "You have been very cooperative with the police. Whether anything comes of it is up to them and their investigative powers. What you have done is quite unusual and it would be unjust, in the very peculiar circumstances of this case, to impose a period of immediate custody."